GALVESTON -- The body of a blond baby boy clad in a diaper was discovered this morning in the grass near the side of a Galveston road, police said.

The body, described as a child between 4-months and 6-months-old, was discovered about 9 a.m. near Seawall Boulevard and Ferry Road, Lt. Jorge Trevino said.

"A couple was driving on Cherry Hill and saw what they thought was a doll," Trevino said. But something looked odd and they stopped and discovered the body next to a child's car seat, he said.

Trevino said it appeared that the child may have been thrown from the car while sitting in the car seat. He said it was unlikely that the child could have somehow fallen out of the car without the driver being aware.

Cherry Hill is the unofficial name for a 2-mile stretch of Seawall Boulevard that begins past Ferry Road and runs to the east end of the island at the Ship Channel. The road is unusual because a berm on its north side is paved, allowing cars to drive along the top of the berm.

Jesse James Zaro Jr., 43, of Galveston and wife Esmeralda, 45, were driving slowly along the top of the berm looking for coyotes when they spotted the body, Zaro said.

"I looked over to the side and it looked like a doll," Zaro said. "Then I just said, 'Oh my God,' and I got out of the car and looked and it was a baby, a little baby.

"It was horrible. I went to pieces, I couldn't believe it."

Zaro said he tried to flag down a truck before learning that his wife was carrying a cell phone. Police received the call at 8:59 a.m.

Choking with emotion, Zaro said he couldn't understand why someone would discard a child. "First of all, if you couldn't handle what you had, you could have given it to somebody who could have taken care of it," he said.

"But golly, why hurt a poor defenseless little baby?"

The body was about 20 feet from the curb at the top of the berm in a grassy area. The car seat was found in a brushy area about 30 feet farther.

Crime scene investigators were combing the area for evidence and will have exact measurements later today, Trevino said.

He said it was likely that the body had been by the side of the road for a short time because it was in good condition and had not been attacked by animals. He said there were no obvious marks on the body.

The body was taken to the Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office, Trevino said.

The discovery comes nearly three months after a fisherman discovered the unidentified body of a 2-year-old girl in a plastic box that had washed up on an island in West Galveston Bay.

Authorities searched for nearly a month before determining the identity of Riley Ann Sawyers of Spring. Trevino said he expected the baby boy to be identified much sooner.

"Whoever came out here is familiar with the area," Trevino said. He said prints of children's feet are often taken at birth, which should help identification.

He said a sketch or photo of the face would be made if necessary to help identify the child.

District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk and First Assistant District Attorney Joel Bennett were at the scene conferring with investigators, but declined comment.

HOUSTON — A baby whose body was found on the side of the road next to his car seat was killed by head injuries before his body was dumped in Galveston, according to autopsy results released Wednesday.

A woman has tentatively identified the body as that of her 3-month-old son, and authorities were searching for the baby's father, the last person seen with him.

The child's death was ruled a homicide by blunt force head trauma, said John Florence, chief investigator for the Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office.

"The (medical examiner) is telling us it happened before the body had been tossed out in the car seat," said Galveston Police spokesman Lt. Jorge Trevino.

The autopsy did not offer additional details about how the infant was killed or give an exact time of death. A couple looking for wildlife Tuesday morning found the body, clad only in a diaper, in a grassy area of Galveston, an island city about 50 miles southeast of Houston.

There had been initial reports that the infant might have been thrown out of a moving vehicle.

"But the location of the child and the baby seat is not consistent with a moving vehicle," Trevino said. "It was likely the car was stopped."

The infant was in the car seat when it was tossed, and the child was apparently thrown out when the seat hit the ground, Trevino said.

Trevino said investigators have learned that the couple thought to be the infant's parents had been arguing Monday night in their home in Alvin, about 30 miles northwest of Galveston.

By the time the child's father left with his son early Tuesday to get a car repaired, the couple were no longer arguing, Trevino said. The mother began calling hospitals hours later after becoming concerned about the baby because the father had left with few provisions for the child.

The infant's father is being called "a person of interest" in the investigation, police said.

The infant has yet to be positively identified. Investigators may be able to match the body with hospital footprint records; if not, they will have to rely on DNA testing, which would take several days, Trevino said.

The discovery of the baby's body comes just three months after a fisherman found the remains of a 2-year-old girl in a plastic box that had washed ashore in Galveston Bay. That child, dubbed "Baby Grace," was later identified as Riley Ann Sawyers of Spring.

Riley's mother and stepfather are charged with capital murder in her beating death.

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Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware/Of giving your heart to a dog to tear -- Rudyard Kipling

One who doesn't trust is never deceived...

'I remained too much inside my head and ended up losing my mind' -Edgar Allen Poe

August 13, 2008Death penalty will be sought in stomping death of babyProsecutors will seek the death penalty for Travis Mullis, 22, the man accused of stomping his 3-month-old son to death to stop him from crying. The boy's body was found in January on a Galveston roadside.

The discovery of 3-month-old Alijah Mullis' diaper-clad body led to a nationwide manhunt for Mullis, 22.

August 13, 2008Death penalty will be sought in stomping death of babyProsecutors will seek the death penalty for Travis Mullis, 22, the man accused of stomping his 3-month-old son to death to stop him from crying. The boy's body was found in January on a Galveston roadside.

The discovery of 3-month-old Alijah Mullis' diaper-clad body led to a nationwide manhunt for Mullis, 22.

POSTED: Thursday, February 7, 2008UPDATED: 9:02 am CST February 8, 2008GALVESTON, Texas -- The mother of a baby who was allegedly killed by his father has been charged with endangering a child, KPRC Local 2 reported Thursday.http://www.click2houston.com/news/15248785/detail.html

« Last Edit: December 04, 2009, 07:02:22 AM by Nut44x4 »

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Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware/Of giving your heart to a dog to tear -- Rudyard Kipling

One who doesn't trust is never deceived...

'I remained too much inside my head and ended up losing my mind' -Edgar Allen Poe

GALVESTON — An Alvin man told Philadelphia police he stomped his 3-month-old son to death to stop him from crying, according to an affidavit made public Wednesday.

Travis "T.J." Mullis, 21, "admitted taking Alijah Mullis out of his car seat and stated that the only way to stop Alijah Mullis from crying was to kill him," according to the affidavit.

The affidavit, which partially relied on statements Mullis made to Philadelphia police, was prepared Friday by Galveston police Sgt. Annie Almendarez so that Pennsylvania authorities could hold Mullis on a capital murder charge.

Mullis waived extradition and returned to Texas on Tuesday, arriving at Bush Intercontinental Airport at 10:30 p.m. He was taken to the Galveston County Jail.

His bail has been set at $1 million.

In a hearing that was not open to the public, Mullis appeared before a magistrate in the jail at 7:50 a.m. Wednesday to hear a charge of capital murder read to him, sheriff's office spokesman Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo said.

Police Lt. Jorge Trevino said investigators met with Galveston County District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk to discuss the evidence gathered in Pennsylvania, including an examination of Mullis' car.

Sistrunk said he now must decide when to seek an indictment from a grand jury. If Mullis is indicted, the case will be assigned to a district judge. Texas law allows a capital murder charge in the slaying of a child younger than 6.

Investigators also are arranging a meeting with Caren Kohberger, 27, the mother of the slain child, Trevino said.

Trevino said Kohberger's attorney has contacted police and pledged her full cooperation in the investigation.

Although a housemate had said Mullis was last seen about 6:30 a.m. Jan. 29, the day Alijah was slain, the affidavit says that Kohberger told police that he left the trailer they shared in Alvin at 4:30 a.m.

Mullis was supposed to have returned at 9 a.m. so that Alijah could be fed, the affidavit says.

A couple looking for wildlife discovered Alijah's diaper-clad body about 9 a.m. that day in an undeveloped area on Seawall Boulevard about a mile east of Ferry Road on the island's east end.

Police began a search for Mullis the same day after Kohberger identified Alijah from a photo of the body.

Using information from the Galveston police investigation, Brazoria County issued a warrant for Mullis' arrest Jan. 31 on a charge of enticing a child. He is accused of taking an 8-year-old from her bed and asking her to pull down her pants.

Mullis walked into a Philadelphia police station Friday and said he was wanted for murder in Texas.

He gave a statement saying that he stomped on Alijah's head three or four times until he felt the skull collapse.

Charge Status Docket # Bond Amount CAPITAL MURDER PERSON UNDER SIX YEARS OF AGE AWAITING TRIAL 08CR0333 CASH OR SURETY $1,000,000.00 OUT OF COUNTY WARRANT (BRAZORIA CO ) OUT OF COUNTY WARRANT CASH OR SURETY $50,000.00

Update, 03/09/08 – She’s back in Texas and already out of jail! Caren Kohberger waived extradition and turned herself in to Texas authorities on Friday. It took her all of seventeen minutes to get out of jail on a reduced bond.

New York, NY and Galveston, TX, 2/12/08 – Well, it happened. Caren Kohberger, 27, was arrested Tuesday afternoon right after she was released from the mental ward at Bellevue Hospital on Tuesday afternoon. For those of you who don’t read here regularly, Kohberger, 27, is the mother of three-month-old Alijah James Mullis, who was stomped to death by his father, Travis “TJ” Mullis, on January 29. Here’s the original post and all 1473 comments.

Mullis, 21, was on the run for several days before turning himself in to authorities in Philadelphia() on February 1. At that time, Mullis confessed to deliberately and intentionally stomping Alijah’s head with his foot “three or four times, until he felt the skull collapse” on the morning of January 29. He told police that when he left the home at about 4:30 AM that morning, Alijah was alive and well. Mullis further confessed that he drove from the family’s temporary home in Alvin, Texas to Galveston, about 40 miles away, and killed the baby there before leaving Alijah’s diaper-clad body and his carseat on the side of the road. Alijah’s tiny body was found by a married couple at 8:50 AM that morning.

Meanwhile, Caren Kohberger was posting online to social websites like Fubar and making a few calls to hospitals – and possibly also to Texas EquuSearch. A hospital called Galveston police sometime that day to let them know of Caren’s unusual call. Caren had told the hospital that she was in fear for her baby’s life, that her boyfriend had left the house early and was supposed to be back by 9:00 AM for a feeding. He had not arrived with the child and she was concerned that he didn’t have enough supplies for a long day.

Fifteen minutes later, Texas EquuSearch called Galveston police with the same report – and theirs had also come from the trailer where Mullis, Kohberger and Alijah had been staying. Caren Kohberger went to the Galveston police department and tentatively ID’d her baby son’s bludgeoned body on the evening of January 29.

From that evening until after Mullis confessed, speculation ran rampant online as to Kohberger’s guilt or innocence. What did she know about her baby boy’s death? When did she know it? Speculation intensified when Caren lawyered up and refused to answer more questions after January 31. On February 7, some answers became available via a warrant for Caren’s arrest on a charge of child endangerment.

The warrant says that Caren knew that Travis Mullis was a danger to Alijah on the morning of January 29, and she let Mullis take the baby anyway. In fact, the warrant alleges that Mullis told Kohberger he needed to get away, that he was having flashbacks to his own childhood abuse and feared he would hurt Alijah. Kohberger allegedy used Alijah as “insurance” to make sure that Travis would come back.

The warrant couldn’t be served, though, because Caren wasn’t at home in Alvin. In fact, Caren wasn’t even in Texas. One early report, quickly edited, said that Caren had checked herself into a mental hospital. Soon after, it was reported that Caren was “with family” in New York. Now it appears that both were correct – she was in New York, and she was in a mental hospital.

Travis “TJ” Mullis remains jailed in Galveston after waiving extradition from Philadelphia on a charge of capital murder. He also faces a charge of enticing a child in connection with a January incident involving his attempted molestation of an 8-year-old girl. Now Caren Kohberger is in custody in New York, awaiting extradition to Texas on the endangerment charge.

Maybe we’re going to see some justice for baby Alijah after all.

Update, 2/15/08 – And maybe we will get justice for Alijah, but it’ll have to wait a bit. Because Caren Kohberger has requested a hearing on her extradition from New York to Brazoria County, Texas, where she is looking at that child endangerment charge. Authorities say they’re not worried, but that the process sometimes takes a few weeks to resolve. When Kohberger does get back to Texas, she’ll still be held on $60,000 bond. She remains in a prison ward at a psychiatric hospital in New York while she awaits the extradition hearing.

Update 2/18/08 – A grand jury has indicted Travis Mullis today on a charge of capital murder in the death of Alijah James Mullis. Caren Kohberger remains in New York, where she is fighting extradition toBrazoria County, Texas. Travis Mullis remains in the Brazoria County jail on capital murder charges.

UPDATE 3/9/08 – Jimmy Phillips Jr., an attorney for Caren Kohberger, says that turned herself in to Brazoria County on Friday. Which is kind of true and kind of not, since she was actually flown back to Texas from New York accompanied by Brazoria County deputies after waiving extradition. Her son Alijah, killed by his father on January 29, would now be four and a half months old.

Kohberger posted a bond of $20,000 (down from the original $60,000) after 17 minutes and is now free pending grand jury hearings. Anyone wanna take bets on whether she’s posting to her Fubar account?

Travis James Mullis, 24, was accused of sexually assaulting and killing his 3-month-old son, Alijah Mullis, and of flinging the boy’s lifeless body along a hurricane levee near Galveston’s seawall.

Wildlife sightseers found Alijah’s body and called police.

Mullis could face the death penalty if the jury returns a guilty verdict in a trial that is expected to last more than two weeks. ::snipping2::Mullis is accused in the Feb. 29, 2008, slaying of Alijah and of driving his girlfriend’s car to Philadelphia, where he voluntarily surrendered Feb. 2, 2008, to police and gave a video statement to homicide investigators.

Prosecutors Donna Goode, Kayla Allen and special prosecutor Lyn McClellan played the videotape of Mullis’ interview for Ellisor on Jan. 19. Defense attorneys Robert K. Loper and Gerald Bourque attempted to have the evidence quashed, but Ellisor ruled the video admissible at trial.

The Daily News was present when prosecutors played the video, in which Mullis described in vivid detail the last day of his son’s life. ::snipping2::Mullis argued with Kohberger, left with his son and drove to Galveston, stopping on a hurricane levee near East Beach.

Consumed with stress, Mullis told police on videotape, "the only way to make him stop crying was to kill him."

Mullis put his hands around Alijah’s throat and applied pressure with his thumbs, he said in the video.

"I heard him begin to gurgle," Mullis said. "I let go of him, and he cried even more."

Mullis then told police he put his son on the concrete part of the levee and stomped on Alijah’s head three or four times until he felt the child’s skull collapse under his shoe. ::snipping2::

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" Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." - Daniel Moynihan

share: digg facebook twitter GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — A Southeast Texas man convicted of capital murder in the 2008 death of his 3-month-old son sexually assaulted the child before stomping him to death, according to DNA tests presented during the penalty phase of his trial. Defense attorneys began... Read More »

Family photo, Galveston police Travis James Mullis, 24, could get the death penalty for the death of 3-month-old Alijah.

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GALVESTON – Travis James Mullis performed a sexual act on his 3-month-old son before crushing the infant's skull with his foot, the prosecution said today in the punishment phase of Mullis' capital murder trial.

Mullis also sexually molested a younger female cousin when he was 12, Assistant Galveston County District Attorney Kayla Allen told the same jury that convicted Mullis on Friday.

In her opening statement, Allen asked jurors to condemn Mullis to death. The only other punishment option is life in prison without parole.

Defense attorney Gerald Bourque told jurors that Mullis was molested by his own parents as early as age 3.

GALVESTON — A convicted child killer should be put to death, a jury decided Monday in the county’s first death penalty hearing since the mid 1990s.

The jury of seven women and five men that convicted Travis James Mullis on March 11 of capital murder in the stomping death of his son, Alijah, deliberated about three hours before reaching a unanimous decision in favor of the death penalty.

The man called a monster by prosecutors took his 3-month-old son from his Alvin mobile home to an isolated berm near Galveston’s East Beach in the early morning hours of Jan. 29, 2008.

Mullis can stomp his baby boy to death, but when it comes time to pay up, he's afraid to die. "...has had a change of heart..." What heart?! And on top of that, he wants to appeal past the given deadline date.

As the state prepares to set an execution date for Travis James Mullis, the man condemned for stomping the life from his infant son, has had a change of heart and wants to appeal his death sentence.

Mullis, 25, had adamantly opposed appealing his March 2011 capital murder conviction in the Jan. 29, 2008, death of his son, Alijah, who was 3 months old, in Galveston. But a letter Mullis wrote Aug. 20 from death row says he wants to appeal the verdict — even though he missed the July 2 deadline for an appeal.

In September 2011, Mullis said he accepted the consequences and had a religious and moral belief of an eye for an eye. The punishment was justified for the crime, he said in a jailhouse interview with The Daily News.

Mullis waived the appeal of his death sentence from Judge John Ellisor’s 122nd District Court, a pro se waiver affirmed in April by the state’s highest appeals court. Any death sentence, however, results in an automatic appeal, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reviewed trial transcripts and found no error.

“New evidence has surfaced that was not available at the time I chose to waive my appeal. I hereby request that this court reinstate my appeal and appoint counsel to help me with this appeal,” Mullis’ letter to Ellisor states.More...

The letter doesn’t give details on the new evidence, but Mullis wrote he would discuss it on the record in court.

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" Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." - Daniel Moynihan